Hogwart's Rule Number 360
by Mister Jackkkk
Summary: Hogwart's Rule Number 360: Please stop telling first years about the time the Hogwart's Christmas tree ate a student.


**Hogwart's Rule Number 360: Please stop telling first years about the time the Hogwart's Christmas tree ate a student.**

"-gobbled him right up!" shouted Ron, as he mashed his teeth together.

The first years scattered in all directions screaming, some of the girls began crying when they bumped into a couple of Fir trees down the hall.  
"Ronald!" chided Hermione when her two best friends burst into laughter, "Stop telling the younger students that happened - Oh! Look!" Hermione approached a girl who was so startled by the story she had began to hiccup uncontrollably, "It never occurred!"  
Ron slapped his knee.

"What never occurred?"

The group turned to see a sparkly eyed Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Ron, is spreading a rumour to scare the first years about a Christmas tree eating students," huffed Hermione, she glared at the Weasley and continued to rub the young girl's back.

"Oh-ho! But it is true!" said Dumbledore sagely, although a little too cheerfully.

The first year fainted with a rather dramatic sigh. Harry looked to Ron and they both wondered if they were this soft in their first year.

"Professor!" gasped Hermione, "How could something like that happen?!"

Dumbledore sat by the window, "Well," he said, and stroked his long grey beard with one hand, and gestured with the other for the trio to sit, "It all happened about... 50 or so years ago... I wasn't Headmaster back then..."

**o~O~o~O~o~O~o**

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore stroked his short, neatly trimmed, graying beard.  
This year, Headmaster Dippet had given the chore of decorating for Christmas to the Professor - and Albus was more than happy to do it.  
The middle-aged wizard prided himself in being quite the fashionable decorator.

In fact, the only request that Dippet made was to use the old Christmas Tree in storage, "It has been getting on in age, but so have I! We will use that tree until it falls apart - do you understand Dumbledore?"

Albus nodded, still twisting his fingers in his beard.

"Good-oh!" exclaimed Dippet, "Well, off you go then! Lighten up this school!"

And so Albus went away to do just that.

The Professor summoned faeries to flutter around bunches of mistletoe, enchanted baubles to change colour whenever a student passed them, and taught the suits of armor some carols to sing! Though some of them didn't quite get it.

Albus levitated the old Douglas tree to stand in the Great Hall beside the doors to be admired whenever someone passed it!

Or they would admire it, if it didn't look so... sad.

Several gaping holes were present between branches where the leaves had dropped away, the tree had an obvious lean and a few dozen brown leaves.  
The wizard hummed in thought - brows furrowed together as he stared at the very depressing tree.

"What can I do with you?" he asked loudly, and twirled his beard, "Ah!" he shouted, and scared a couple of first years away.  
Albus pointed his wand and cast a few charms.

There was a loud _crack_ as the trunk straightened itself out, a _whoosh_ when the leaves became fuller and greener, and lastly a dizzying _pop_ as new branches sprouted to cover the gaps.

"That's better!" nodded Dumbledore, and he continued his job by placing lights, beaded popcorn and the like around the tree.  
By the time he was finished, the tree was so full of decorations, that Albus had to use the _Engorgio_ charm three times to make sure everything he wanted in the tree fit.

"It's beautiful, Dumbledore," gasped Headmaster Dippet, when he came to inspect the Professor's work.

'Thank-you Headmaster,' Albus swelled with pride as many other students gathered to look at the tree.

"Far more impressive than the tree in the orphanage," Tom Riddle breathed out, staring up at the over-filled Douglas.

"Thank-you, Tom!" sing-songed Dumbledore, fingers in his beard once again, he grinned from ear to ear.

Then a loud groan sounded.

"... What was that?" asked Dippet, and a few whispers rang throughout the hall.

"I think it came from the tree..." mumbled Tom.

"Yes..." agreed Dumbledore, he took a step forward, and at the risk of sounding silly, he asked, "Are you alright tree?"

There was another groan.

"...Perhaps you just need to lighten the load, Dumbledore," suggested the Headmaster, "This tree is older than I, you know!"

"Perhaps.." repeated the Professor, and he lifted his wand to do just that.

However the old Douglas had, had enough! And it swung its top down on the middle-aged wizard's face, and broke his nose.

A loud_ crack_ echoed off the walls as the tree shook decorations from itself. Some branches re-positioned themselves to form a toothed mouth and the students screamed and fled.

All of them except Tom Riddle, who was too shocked by what he was seeing to even step a side when the tree grew arms, scooped him up, and appeared to have swallowed the boy.

"ALBUS!" screeched Dippet, "The tree ate a student!" the Headmaster glared at him, "Fix this mess!"

Dumbledore got to his feet quickly, blood gushed from his nose and the wizard frantically began casting spells to try and calm the tree.

"If this gets out we're finished!" cried Dippet.

After a two hour grueling battle, Albus had managed to subdue the tree, and retrieve poor little Tom from its belly.

Dippet had left in a hurry to obliterate the memories of the students who had seen the tree.

"Are you alright, Tom?" asked Dumbledore as he tried to _Episkey_ his own nose.

"I'll live... however - I take my statement back - I like the trees in the orphanage a lot better," Tom Riddle proved this by casting_ Incendio_ upon the Old Douglas.

"Well said." mumbled Albus, when he finally managed to fix his nose, although it remained slightly crooked.

**o~O~o~O~o~O~o**

"... and that's how I broke my nose!" exclaimed the Headmaster, smiling brightly, "and also when the Christmas tree ate a student," he added.

The trio of Gryffindors sat in silence.

It was an amazing story, however a bit hard to believe that a tree broke his nose... at least they now know that there was, indeed, once a carnivorous Christmas tree.

**A/N**  
**Poor Riddle! This is probably why he became the big bad Lord Voldy, aye? =P**


End file.
